Slow Down LazyTown
by AnnGry
Summary: It's a normal day in LazyTown where everyone loves their laid back and lounging hero Lazycus, who is always ready to save them from the over-energetic machinations of the sneaky Sportacus.


Disclaimer: The TV series "LazyTown" was created Magnús Scheving and is owned by Turner Broadcasting System. This work of fanfiction is solely for entertainment purposes. I do not own the characters depicted in this story, nor do I gain any profit from using them.

A/N: I've got no excuse for this.

* * *

 _Welcome to LazyTown, a place where napping is okay._

 _You'll meet Sportacus with his exhausting plan,_

 _And Lazycus who stands in his way._

 _Woah, woah, woah! Slow down, LazyTown!_

 _There's no need to rush through the day._

 _We take it lying down here in LazyTown,_

 _Adventure is a word we don't say..._

* * *

The sun came up with the rooster's crow to mark the start of another perfect day. What was perfect about it? Everyone was sleeping in! They had to after staying up all night playing video games and eating pizza. And once they woke up they would do it all over again.

There was only one person who was already wide awake at such an unreasonable hour. Lurking high above LazyTown in his airship was none other than Sportacus Ten. He was strong, fast, and noisy— everything that LazyTown wasn't. But he would change that.

Pulling out his spyglass the blue-clad cad decided he would do a little snooping and see what the sluggish citizens were up to. They tended to be a boring bunch of lay-abouts, and it was shaping up to be no different today.

Already he could see the town gossip, Miss Busybody, lounging on a lawn chair in her front yard. There was no way she would be completing a morning jog with a glass of lemonade in her hand and a full mask of beauty cream on her face. She could stay like that for hours.

But what about those lazy kids? It took some scanning around for Sportacus to find them. He was disappointed but not surprised to find that the children weren't running around and playing, but rather were sitting around and doing nothing! It had taken most of their energy to drag themselves out of their houses so they could sit back on some park benches and doze off in the fresh air.

"Napping again!" Sportacus couldn't stand to watch them anymore. He put his spyglass away and somersaulted across the deck of his airship. Watching those pack of loafers made him feel so restless he just had to do a bunch of backflips and hand springs to help vent his frustration. "I'll make sure that no one's lazy in LazyTown... FOREVER!"

* * *

Stephanie yawned and stretched as she stepped out of her uncle's house. Her arms and legs were stiff and creaked a bit— she'd spent most of yesterday just lying in bed reading comic books. Across the street Trixie snickered at her.

"Do you need some oil for those rusty joints of yours, Pinky? You sound worse than Stingy's car."

"Very funny," Stephanie said as she crossed the road to join the other girl. It was true, though, she may have overdone it on doing nothing yesterday.

"Guys, GUYS!" Ziggy shouted as he came running. He had to stop and pant heavily to catch his breath. With a few licks of the lollipop clutched in one hand he managed to make it over to them. "You won't believe what's going on in the town square!"

"Well don't just stand there gulping like a fish, tell us!" Trixie said.

"They're giving away FREE ICE CREAM!" Ziggy exclaimed. The girls' faces lit up with excitement.

"What are we waiting for then?" Trixie asked. "Let's go get it before they run out!"

There was already a line at the ice cream stand when the three children made it to the park. Stingy was at the front and slapping his hands on the order counter.

"Where's my ice cream?" the fancy boy demanded. Inside of the little kiosk the ice cream man had his back turned towards the line as he busily worked away.

"One more moment," the man said, "just adding a little garnish."

"Garnish?" Stingy muttered with some confusion. No matter, the guy finally turned around and handed it to him. The children stared in shock at who was manning the ice cream stand.

"Sportacus Ten!" all of them exclaimed. They weren't fooled by the white paper hat or apron, mostly because Sportacus was still wearing his normal hat and goggles underneath, not to mention his striking blue suit. He tweaked his mustache gleefully for the recognition.

"What are you doing here?" Trixie asked. "You don't even like ice cream!"

"That doesn't mean I can't give you kids something that you'd like," Sportacus said.

"Hey," Stingy said crossly, "this isn't even ice cream! It's... mashed potatoes? And what's this green thing on top?"

"A sprig of parsley!" Sportacus proudly explained the composition of his creation. "And it's got a gravy sauce too. It's good for you!"

"But where's the candy?" Ziggy asked.

"This _is_ candy. Sportscandy!" Sportacus crossed his arms in a confident pose.

"Yuck," Stingy wrinkled his nose and pursed his lips. He set the cone down gingerly in one of the holders attached to the kiosk counter and wiped his hands on his trousers. "I'll pass."

"Me too," Ziggy said.

"Let's get out of here," Trixie said. All together the kids turned away from the stand.

"Wait!" the mustachioed man leaned out of the stand and waved frantically after them. "I've got cauliflower too! Come back!"

* * *

"That was disappointing," Stephanie said. "What are we going to do now?"

"I don't know," Trixie said. "There's always Pixel's house for video games."

"We did that yesterday," Stephanie said. "Isn't there anything else to do?"

With a whistling _swish_ and _swoosh_ Sportacus spun and spiraled through the air to land in front of the kids, blocking the path.

"You want a new game? I have just the one."

"You're standing in _my_ way," Stingy said, his patience already worn raw by the ice cream scam.

"We're not interested in sports," Trixie waved her hand at the elf as though she could will him away. "It's too much work, forget it."

"I have just the thing for that," Sportacus said. "It's easy to do, and there's even a prize at the end of it."

"A prize?" Stingy couldn't resist the lure of getting something, anything, but tried to sound reluctant. "What's the catch?"

"There's no catch," Sportacus said. "You just have to walk up and take it. Anyone can do it."

"I guess we could check it out," Trixie said. "But this better not be one of your tricks."

Sportacus gave them a big smile full of teeth. "Perfect! Just follow me!" He backflipped and cartwheeled down the street while the group of kids tried to keep up.

They were all panting and dragging their feet by the time they made it to the park. Arranged in a neat row were four small metal ramps that hadn't been there before. It didn't look all that interesting... except for what was waiting at the end of each ramp. Tied down with enticing red ribbons were the biggest lollipops the kids had ever seen!

"Now we're talking!" Ziggy bounced up and down. "And we can just take them?"

"That's right," Sportacus said. "Go get them!"

The children rushed to the ramps, one for each of them. They were strange contraptions to be had but seemed built solidly enough and had good treads so that the kids could climb up easily without fear of slipping. In no time at all they reached the end with the sweet reward.

But as each child pulled their lollipop loose from their ribbon fastenings something clicked and released on the ramps. With a shudder and a jolt a series of bars sprung up and boxed in every child, containing them. Not only that, but the treads under their feet started to move!

"What's happening?" Stephanie stumbled into a jog to keep from tumbling head over heels.

"Sportacus Ten, what did you do!?" Trixie demanded between gasps for breath as she too was forced into a trot. Sportacus hopped around the captured kids in a celebratory tumbling routine.

"If you want to eat junk food, you have to work for it!" Sportacus proclaimed. "There's nothing better than a run to really work up your appetite!"

"Somebody stop this crazy thing!" Stingy cried.

"You want to stop already?" Sportacus leapt up and did a handstand at the front of Stingy's treadmill. "But you only just started. It takes a lot of running to work off something as sugary as a lollipop." He performed a back flip that landed him on his feet once more. "Now sportscandy, on the other hand, that will get you moving in no time at all..."

"All right, we'll take the stupid sportscandy!" Trixie puffed.

"That's the spirit," Sportacus said. "I knew you'd all change your minds." Jumping from ramp to ramp the energetic elf quickly assembled an addition to the trundling treadmills, affixing a long pole onto each. And dangling from the end of each pole there was...

"Carrots," Ziggy wheezed, "oh, no."

"Go on," Sportacus encouraged them, "you can do it!"

Not having much choice the kids tried to outrun the tread moving under their feet. They gasped and heaved and slowly made their ways up the ramps again to reach painstakingly up towards the dangling vegetables.

"I got it," Stingy panted, grabbing wildly at the carrot, "it's mine!"

They grabbed hold of the carrots with breathless shouts of victory. Surely this would put an end to the sports elf's tricky trials. But as each carrot was yanked down off of the poles something churned and jolted within the machinery of the treadmills again— and they kicked into a higher gear, forcing the kids to run even faster!

"Keep up the good work!" Sportacus laughed and cheered. He flitted around the kids springing off of the shaking machines and resetting the poles with the next unappetizing prize. "Next try to reach this broccoli!"

* * *

"What's all that noise?" A strong and disapproving voice boomed over the squeaking treadmills, gasping kids, and giggling elf.

Arriving on the scene was the one, the only, the super hero LazyTown not only needed but deserved—

"LAZYCUS!" all of the children cried out to their purple suited savior! He was unmistakable with the great big "L" stitched on the front of his leotard. The man stood defiantly with his hands on his hips and his fetching orange table cloth— that was to say his cape— flapping in an opportune gust of wind. He took one look at what was going on and turned his displeased gaze onto Sportacus.

"Up to your tiresome tricks again, are you?" Lazycus accused the mischievous man. "I'll put a stop to this."

"We'll see about that, LOONY-cus!" Sportacus puffed out his chest. "Only I know how to stop these machines, and I'm not telling you!"

Stepping proudly past the gloating elf Lazycus inspected each treadmill one by one. The children tripped and staggered, ran and stumbled as best they could while looking pleadingly after their hero. But none of the machines appeared to have an off switch readily available and they were moving too fast for Lazycus to try to grab hold of the treads whizzing underneath the children's feet. He considered the bunches of broccoli dangling from the poles and shook his head.

"I can't be bothered with this," Lazycus concluded. "Just watching all of you run is making me tired. I need to rest."

"Really?" Sportacus looked at his rival with open surprise. "You're not even going to try to turn off the machines?"

"I will," Lazycus yawned, "later." He walked over to the nearest tree and slowly lowered himself down. "I'll just sit here and take a quick nap..."

"Wait," Sportacus sprang after the leisurely hero, "don't sit there!"

But he was too late. As Lazycus flopped down by the tree he leaned back right into a big metal lever. The costumed man sprawled backwards with a startled yelp as the lever compressed under his weight. With a loud chug and grind all of the treadmills shuddered to a halt, drained of power!

"Ow!" Lazycus rubbed his back as he struggled to get up. "Who would put a lever here of all places?"

"Lazycus, you did it!" Stephanie jumped shakily off of her treadmill as the gates fell down, freeing her. The other kids dismounted their own machines with similar clumsy relief.

"Our hero!" Ziggy said.

"MY hero!" Stingy shouted.

"No!" Sportacus hopped up and down on the spot in his frustration. "How could you defeat me so easily? They hadn't even ran a full mile yet!"

"Get lost, Sportacus," Lazycus commanded, "before we run _you_ out of town!"

"I'll get you next time," Sportacus vowed. "You'll all be eating sportscandy and playing sports, just you wait and see!"

The angry athlete pumped his fists and dashed off in a hard sprint before the kids could shout any more abuse at him. They didn't care, though. They were too busy swarming around Lazycus and cheering his heroics. They were all breathless, sweaty, and exhausted from running on the treadmills but with their combined forces they had enough strength to lift Lazycus up off the ground.

"Lazycus, our hero!" they cheered.

"Lazycus will always save the day!" they praised him.

"Hooray for Lazycus!"

"Three cheers for Lazycus!"

"Hip, hip— hooray!"

"Hip, hip— Hooray!"

"Hip, hip—"

* * *

"Hooray... hooray... hoora-a-AY!"

Robbie Rotten's muttered words in his sleep turned into a startled yell as his hammock, twisting and swaying from all his thrashing, dumped him squarely on the ground in a heap. He floundered around and tried to jump back up to his feet but the hammock got in his way and tangled over his head and shoulders, quickly ensnaring him like a fresh caught fish.

"Hold on, I'll help you!"

Alerted to trouble by the flashing of his crystal Sportacus did not hesitate to help any citizen of LazyTown, including the resident villain from his own hammock. He spun Robbie around briskly to unwind the long lengths of rope. By the time he was freed the lanky man was weaving on the spot and shaking his head like he had a few marbles rattling around that needed to get loose.

"What— who—" Robbie grabbed his head in his hands to stop the world from spinning and he looked down at himself. There was no big "L" stitched on the front of his vest, no orange cloth tied around his neck, not even a purple leotard. He was in his normal pinstriped suit and it was the middle of a normal day. Had he dreamt the whole thing?

"Are you okay?" Sportacus asked.

"I—... I'm fine!" Robbie screwed up his face into a scowl and snapped at the shorter man. "Or I was, before you interrupted my nap!"

"Really?" Sportacus asked, looking a touch concerned rather that put off by the villain's sour reception. "It looked like you were having some nightmare!"

"It's no business of yours what I was dreaming about," Robbie said in a huff and crossed his arms, putting a firm stop to that line of questioning.

"Well, all right," Sportacus said. "As long as you're awake, maybe you'd like to join us in the park? I promised Stephanie and Ziggy I would give them super hero training today..."

"Super hero?" Robbie sputtered and scoffed. "Why would _I_ want be a super hero _?_ I'm not a hero, I'm a villain! And I always will be!"

"Okay, Robbie," Sportacus said, grinning slightly. "Maybe sometime you could show me some super villain training instead... See you later!"

Before Robbie had time to react the blue clad man had executed his signature move and sprinted away, leaping and flipping through the air to make his appointment with the kids. Robbie stared after the sprightly sports hero and shook his head, the frown only faintly remaining on his face.

"Train with you, Sporta-loon?" Robbie mumbled under his breath. "In your dreams..."


End file.
